Ninja Gaiden II AU Review

You had me at ninja.

Now that Tomonobu Itagaki has left Tecmo, Ninja Gaiden II has become more than just the latest instalment in an acclaimed franchise; it has also become a swansong for a larger than life game designer. No doubt Itagaki will move on to new pastures, but it will be with Ninja Gaiden II that Itagaki's involvement with the series will come to an end. Is it a bloody masterwork, or does it represent a serious misstep in a genre in which it was formerly the master? The answer lies somewhere in between.

Fans of the series will no doubt feel a tingle down the back of their spines as the game opens. It's hard to imagine a more appropriate or picturesque setting than that of the first mission. Sky City Tokyo, so aptly named, is a mash-up of traditional Japanese architecture and an ultra-modern city. Wooden bridges span gorgeous, manicured gardens, while houses with rice paper walls nestle between flowering cheery blossom trees... dozens of storeys above the ground. It's a gorgeous setting, and running along the many walkways provides ample opportunities to gawk at the city in the distance, with its alluring combination of modern metropolis with traditional temples that sit high in the sky atop heavy wooden scaffolding.

Taking a flamboyant bow with blades on your hands is never a wise decision.

Of course, the meditative setting is completely at odds with the action itself. Ninja Gaiden II's combat takes the balletic grace and brutal intensity that the series is known for and kicks it into overdrive. The sheer pace of the action is insane, and as you'd expect the animations are top notch and supremely pretty. And then there's the blood. Oh, the blood. Ryu Hayabusa is a limb lopping machine. Arms and legs fly, while finishing moves see Ryu close in over an enemy and neatly slice his head off. You're never in any doubt as to which way you're going, as bodies and gibs litter the ground and blood spatters line the walls on any area you've been through. It's glorious.

But what of the series' legendary difficulty curve? Does Ninja Gaiden II retain the original Xbox game's challenge, where only those with a mastery of the combat will prevail? No, not really. It's still very difficult, and the combat system is still excellent, with a heavy reliance on blocking and tactical play, but there are a couple of aspects that really let the game down.

The first – and I'm really getting sick of bringing this up a decade and a half after it first became an issue – is the camera system. It's terrible. In a game where you really need to see where your enemies are and what they're doing – or you'll die a quick and ignoble death – it's ridiculous how often your enemies are off-screen... and the camera is off checking out an interesting wall or ornament. Admittedly, the sheer speed of your movements and of the combat in general makes consistently framing the action well a difficult task, but Team Ninja has got it spectacularly wrong.

It's almost never facing where you need it to, and it's a real chore constantly fighting to manually adjust it. Not only that but you're never entirely sure which way the camera will be facing after a combo. It would have made far more sense for the team to use more of a God of War approach – pan the perspective back and take control of the camera out of the hands of the player. Sure, this would mean reworking the gameplay and level design significantly, but Team Ninja would still be able to keep all the athleticism and wall-running antics; it just wouldn't be as in-your-face, with the glorious camera perspectives and cuts when Ryu slices and dices an enemy. Too big a sacrifice? We don't think so.

I believe the expression is 'holy crap - look behind you!'

And in our minds the level design could do with a huge overhaul anyway. It's quite amazing that the team doesn't seem to realise what does and doesn't work into the context of the camera and the gameplay. Or if it does, it ignores that knowledge. On the one hand, the more open spaces are generally pretty manageable in terms of controlling the combat, and the light platforming sections work pretty well, but on the other it's amazing just how many narrow corridors the team manages to pack into this title. Running through train carriages, fighting on narrow staircases, and running along cramped lanes. Not only are they awkward to navigate but it's really frustrating getting hit by an enemy you can't see when you turn a corner, and there's little you can do about it. Which brings us neatly to the second aspect that lets down the game's difficulty curve – cheap shots.